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If we humans can't own the air or sea, why can we own land?

And what happens when we do? Simon Winchester--an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and acclaimed author of the New York Times bestsellers The Professor and the Madmen, The Map That Changed the World, Krakatoa, Atlantic, and Pacific--explores with Julie and Eve how he addressed the man-made notions of land ownership and dispossession in his latest book, Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World. They discuss how the Netherlands ingeniously expanded its territory without the use of thievery, battle, or loss of life; how a single line drawn by a fountain pen brutally and senselessly cost the lives of 2 million Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs in India and Pakistan; and how, exactly, Simon managed to survive an expedition-turned-rescue-mission on an uncharted section of the East Greenland ice cap.






Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World


In many ways, Land combines bits and pieces of many of Winchester’s previous books into a satisfying, globe-trotting whole. . . . Winchester is, once again, a consummate guide.

Boston Globe

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary


An extraordinary tale, and Simon Winchester could not have told it better. . . . [He] has written a splendid book. -- The Economist


Go Deeper

Simon Winchester

The Professor and the Madmen, by Simon Winchester

The Map That Changed the World, by Simon Winchester

Krakatoa, by Simon Winchester

Atlantic, by Simon Winchester

Pacific, by Simon Winchester

Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World, by Simon Winchester

Oxford University East Greenland Expedition

The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman

Scoresby Sund

Mohican Indians

Radipole

Cornelis Lely

Flevoland

The New York Times (2017), “The Dutch Have Solutions to Rising Seas. The World is Watching.”

Lord Mountbatten

Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi

Mohammad Ali Jinnah

Sir Cyril Radcliffe

Jawaharlal Nehru

Eve Yohalem

Julie Sternberg

Book Dreams Podcast

Podglomerate

Lit Hub Radio

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